


Freaky Friday the 14th

by DelightfullyDifficult



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: AU, Body-swap, F/M, Valentine's Day
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-17
Updated: 2020-02-28
Packaged: 2021-02-28 05:27:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,433
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22778692
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DelightfullyDifficult/pseuds/DelightfullyDifficult
Summary: After a fight on Valentine's Day, Emma and Killian find themselves inhabiting the other's body.  Can they figure out how to switch back before their friends figure out what is going on? (Captain Swan Role Reversal 2020 with Mariakov81's art as inspiration).
Relationships: Captain Hook | Killian Jones/Emma Swan
Comments: 6
Kudos: 30





	1. Part 1

**Author's Note:**

> Please go to tumblr to check out Mariakov81's amazing art! https://mariakov81.tumblr.com/post/190814347713/happy-valentines-eve-guys-its-my-turn-now-to

“He’s not going to propose,” Emma told to herself as she carefully applied a thin line of eyeliner along her eyelid. “He wouldn’t be stupid enough to propose on Valentine’s Day”

Not after all the times she’d expressed annoyance at the commercialized fake holiday. He knew how dumb she thought proposals on Valentine’s Day were. Just couple’s giving into the forced romanticism retailers and expensive ad agencies had shoved down everyone’s throats since January. Decisions made in haste that would only backfire in the long run.

“He better not propose.” Emma placed the cap back on her eyeliner with a little more force than necessary. 

She loved Killian, her boyfriend of two years, she really did… but she wasn’t sure if she was ready to take a walk down the aisle. She’d only settled down in the small town of Storybrooke, Maine, a few years ago after a lifetime on the move. Emma loved the quaint, seaside town. She had many friends, a job she loved, but Emma still had a fear that one day, she would no longer be welcome and be forced to leave. It was an irrational fear, she well knew, but after the turbulent life she’d had, it was hard to believe that she’d finally found a welcoming home.

And such a wonderful partner in Killian. He was an intelligent man who actually listened to her when she told him something. He was not, she told herself, an idiot and therefore would not propose while they were out to dinner. There was no need to work herself up into an anxious mess about something that would not, absolutely not, be happening. 

Except…

He’d been acting oddly for the past few weeks. He’d start to ask her something, stop, and then tell her to forget it. Or change the topic. Two weekends ago she’d walked into a room where he and their friend David had been talking, only for them to go completely silent. It had just been for a moment, but that moment was enough for Emma to realize that they’d been talking about her.

Later, she’d mentioned all of this to her best friend, Mary Margaret, who’d squealed with joy and suggested that Killian was going to propose soon. And no matter how much she rejected the idea she couldn’t get it out of her head. 

Killian arrived exactly at 6:45pm, knocking on her front door like he didn’t have a key to her apartment and the sound sent butterflies through Emma’s stomach. She unceremoniously opened the door as she pulled the zipper up on the tall, black leather boots she’d decided to pair with the short, red dress she was wearing.

“Need help, love?”

Emma shook her head as she stood. Killian already held her warmest wool jacket and like a gentleman, helped her into it. She gave him a quick kiss in thanks. Killian himself was bundled up against the cold in a long, navy blue pea coat with a black beanie on his head. It must be really cold outside for him to eschew his wide array of black leather jackets in favor of something more sensible.

After she locked her apartment door, she turned and asked, “So where are we going?” 

Killian held the door as they exited her apartment building. “A pub opened up down by the harbor a few weeks back, called The Hope and Anchor. Eric says their onion rings are the best he’s had in ages.”

~*~

The pub was fantastic. It had been built in an old wharf warehouse and even though it had been renovated, they had obviously tried to retain as much of the original feel as they could. She’d half expected it to be decorated in an over-the-top nautical theme, but had been thrilled to be wrong. There was a heavy anchor propped up in one corner and ship-in-a-bottle behind the bar, but other than those, the walls were covered in an eclectic assortment of items she’d come to expect from any New England pub. Except this one did have some absolutely amazing onion rings.

“Don’t tell Granny, but I do believe these are the best onion rings in the state,” Emma said as she grabbed another onion ring from her plate and popped it in her mouth.

Killian brought his hand up and thoughtfully stroked his face. “That’s a tall order, Swan, asking me to keep a secret from the matriarch of our lovely town,” he said softly. “I’m going to need something in return.” 

Emma rolled her eyes at her boyfriend’s antics. “And what do you have in mind as payment, to keep this damaging information to yourself?” 

“What about…” Killian took a slow sip of his rum, “you agree to be my Valentine?”

An unbidden blush spread across Emma’s cheeks. She’d never been someone’s Valentine before. 

Emma reached across the table, grabbed Killian’s hand and gave it a tug. Taking the hint, he leaned forward enough for her to kiss him. “Is that all?” she whispered against his lips.

“Move in with me.”

He said it so softly that at first, Emma wasn’t sure she’d understood him correctly. But as soon as she figured out that he had, in fact, said what she’d thought he’d said, she jerked back. 

“What?”

Hand scratching behind his ear, Killian looked a bit sheepish as he repeated himself. “I want you to move in with me. We spend every night together, unless you’re working, and half of my closet is full of your clothes, so it doesn’t make sense to keep living apart.”

He continued to ramble on about all the benefits of them living together, but all Emma could concentrate on was the sinking feeling in her stomach. 

Why did he have to bring this up now? On today of all days?

He knew… 

“I…” Emma started, but paused when she realized she had no idea what to say.

Killian caught her hesitation and stopped talking. He started at her, obviously confused.

“Emma, what’s wrong?”

A surge of anger washed through Emma and she pushed herself away from the table.

“Wrong? What’s wrong?” she snapped. “You know… you know how much I hate it when people use this holiday as an excuse to make big life decisions. It’s stupid and cliché.”

Killian blinked, taken aback.

“Emma, I’ve been wanting to ask you for months…”

“And you couldn’t find some other time to ask? Why did it have to be today of all days?”

“Why does the day matter?” Obviously frustrated, Killian ran his hand through his hair. “I know you hate Valentine’s Day because of the forced emphasis on romance and love, but it’s just another day. It doesn’t have any bearing on my desire for us to live together. I asked just now because I finally had the courage to do so.”

Hearing that cooled Emma’s anger, as if a cold bucket of water had been poured over her. She felt ashamed at the way she lashed out. She needed to get out of there before she could do more damage to their relationship.

“I… I’m sorry,” was all she managed to say before she stood and fled from the pub.

~*~

Killian continued to stare at the door his girlfriend had just ran out of, not yet fully comprehending what had just happened. He’d expected Emma to be hesitant, at first, at the suggestion that she move in with him, which he understood. She valued her space. Living on her own represented independence. Strength. He figured he’d need to convince her that living with him wouldn’t make her any less strong or capable of taking care of herself. 

But in all the scenarios his anxious mind had concocted about how asking could go wrong, her freaking out about it being Valentine’s Day was not one of them.

I should go after her, he told himself. 

With a sigh, Killian tossed back the remaining rum in his glass. He pulled enough cash from his wallet to cover the tab plus a generous tip and dropped it on the table. He gave the bartender a casual wave as he left.

“Bloody hell,” he swore when the biting wind hit his skin. It had started to snow and a fine dusting covered the ground. With the collar of his coat pulled up as far as he could get it, Killian set forth following Emma’s footprints. He caught up with her after a few minutes. However, he didn’t think she would welcome his presence at the moment, so he hung back. 

“I probably look like a stalker,” he muttered. 

Regardless, Killian was determined to make sure that Emma made it home alright, so he followed at a leisurely pace. Not that Emma needed protection and he knew she would have a right fit if he suggested that she couldn’t take care of herself. She was more than capable of doing so. He was just… being an idiot.

When Emma turned down the street to her apartment, Killian admitted to himself that he needed to go home himself. That would give Emma the night to think about the possibility of them living together. He’d call her in the morning and suggest breakfast at Granny’s. 

Resigned, Killian turned and headed home. 


	2. Chapter 2

*BEEP*BEEP*BEEP*

Emma hated Killian’s alarm clock. It was an actual, physical alarm clock, and an ancient one at that. Well, ancient may be too strong of a word, but it was old. So old that she couldn’t plug her phone into it so that it played something other than the annoying buzzer as the alarm.

Buried beneath the covers, Emma reached out one arm and clumsily slapped the alarm clock until the sound ceased. She slowly lifted her arm and squinted at the clock.

7:15am. 

So absorbed as she was trying to figure out why Killian had set the alarm for so early on a weekend, it took her a couple of moments until she realized that the arm holding the blankets up was not her own. 

Except it was.

It was the arm that moved when she instinctively jerked it back in shock. 

Freaked out, Emma tried to unbury herself from the bedcovers, but only tangled herself further. She continued to fight against them until she tumbled off the bed and onto the floor. Finally, she fought free, but when she tried to stand, she found it difficult. Her body felt disjoined and heavy and her head was pounding. Confused, she looked down at herself.

Emma was greeted with the sight of a bare, hairy chest that she was intimately acquainted with. Killian’s chest. She pulled on the waistband of the grey lounge pants. Definitely Killian’s penis.

“What the fuck?”

Killian’s sleep rough voice came from her… his… mouth.

How was this possible?

This had to be some freaky, weird dream.

People couldn’t just… switch bodies.

So what happened?

~*~

Killian woke slowly, confused. He could have sworn that he’d remembered to set his alarm the night before, but the light filtering through the closed blinds told him it was later than he normally woke up. His confusion deepened as he realized that he was in Emma’s apartment. He’d gone home last night, after the disastrous dinner. How had he ended up at Emma’s apartment, in Emma’s bed?

And why was everything blurry?

Killian roughly rubbed a hand across his face to help wake himself up and was shocked to not feel his signature scruff against his palm. Had he decided to shave last night, for some odd reason? He’d had a few more drinks after getting home and had defiantly been drunk by the time he’d gone to bed, but surely it hadn’t been enough for him to not remember shaving? And apparently make his way to his girlfriend’s apartment? It had been a long time since he’d been blackout drunk, but that would also explain why he still couldn’t see properly.

“Bloody hell,” he murmured in a voice not his own.

That woke Killian up and he shot straight up. He quickly scrambled out of bed and promptly fell flat onto the floor, his limbs not obeying. He heaved himself back up and stumbled his way toward the bathroom. 

He was… Emma. 

And he looked exhausted.

The underside of his… her… eyes were puffy, as if he’d… she’d… been crying.

The realization that Emma must have cried sometime after returning home from dinner was like a knife in his heart. That was his fault. Him and his stupid, ill-timed proposition.

Killian dropped his head forward. 

“What have I done?”

Before he could spiral too far down that depressing line of thought, he heard Emma’s phone start to ring. He clumsily left the bathroom and spotted Emma’s cellphone on the bedside table, which showed a picture of himself relaxing on Emma’s bed and his name on the screen.

If he was in Emma’s body… she must be in his!

Killian scrambled across the bed and swiped across the screen to answer the call.

“Emma? Are you alright?” He inquired frantically.

The line was silent for a moment before he heard his own voice answer in reply. 

“Killian, are you… me?”

He answered in the affirmative before repeating his question about how she was.

“I’m confused as fuck. What is going on?” She asked.

“I don’t know, Emma. But we are going to figure it out,” he told her, “I promise you, we will get this sorted.”

Emma’s voice quaked when she asked, “How?”

“I’m not sure yet,” he answered honestly. “Stay put. I’m going to head over there and we can figure this out, together.”

He could hear Emma breathing heavily on the other end of the call. Eventually, she replied, “Okay. That sounds good. I’ll get the coffee started. I feel like we’re going to need lot of it.”

~*~

Four hours later, Emma and Killian were in his living room doing research on how they could have swapped bodies. Killian was on the floor, surrounded by piles of books on mythology and legends. Most were from his own shelves, history nerd that he was, but some he had grabbed from the library on his way over. 

It was weird, seeing herself from the outside, especially looking so academic. He was wearing her glasses, unwilling to risk any damage to her eyes by trying to put contact lenses in he’d said. They kept slipping down his nose due to a broken nose pad, which reminded her that she needed to get a new pair.

While Killian was in his element with the books, she was using her rusty internet sleuthing skills and was hunting down information online using keywords and search terms Killian suggested. Something that was frustratingly difficult with only one hand. Did they not make laptops or keyboards that were easier for one-handed individuals to use?

When another term brought her to a page about yet another mythological trickster, she asked, “Does every mythology have some sort of trickster god?”

Killian looked up from the book he was skimming, face thoughtful. “I believe so. Some even have multiple, in a way, with many entities representing different mischievous attributes. Pan would probably be the trickster of Greek mythology, but there is also Eris, the Goddess of discord. And Dionysis could be considered a bit of a trickster, being the deity of madness.”

Emma couldn’t help but smile at Killian’s thorough answer. Even though mythology wasn’t his area of study, he was a historian and always tried to give the most complete answer possible. 

After answering, Killian looked contemplative. “Do you think we have been cursed by some sort of trickster?” He asked slowly.

Emma’s eyebrows shot up. “Do you?”

Killian scratched behind his ear, clearly embarrassed, but all Emma could concentrate on was how surreal it was to see her own body display Killian’s tick. 

“We are obviously looking at some type of supernatural cause, as impossible as that seems, so it’s as good as an answer as any,” he eventually admitted.

Just as Emma was about to answer, her phone buzzed. It was her calendar app reminding her that she and Killian were supposed to meet Mary-Margaret and David for dinner and drinks that evening. She showed the notification to Killian, who blinked owlishly at it.

“We have to reschedule,” he simply stated.

Emma was shaking her head before he even finished. “Both of us can’t cancel. They’ll know something is up and we’ll never hear the end of it until we tell them.”

“We could claim one of us isn’t feeling well,” he suggested hopefully.

“And Mary-Margaret will be over with soup within the hour,” she countered. After a moment, she continued, “Research is more you’re area, so I’ll go and make-up something to explain your absence.”

“Such as?”

She shrugged, her eyes on the website in front of her. “Maybe that we fought last night and you… well, me, technically… are not currently in the mood to see me, or rather you. The best lies are those with some basis in the truth, after all.”

The room was silent in the wake of her suggestion. Emma looked up from her computer to find Killian staring at her.

“Is that how this day would have gone, if we weren’t in this… unusual situation?” He asked, his voice soft.

Uncomfortable being under her own gaze, Emma shifted on the couch. “Possibly,” she admitted. “I probably would have called Mary-Margaret at some point. Asked for her advice on the situation.”

Killian continued to study her. 

“And you?” She eventually asked. “I already know that you came home and drank half the bottle of rum David gave you for Christmas, so would you have just spent the day nursing the hangover?”

The hangover that she was still coping with, even after a substantial amount of water and numerous cups of coffee.

“Ah… yes. Sorry about that,” he apologized. “I was planning to invite you to Granny’s for breakfast, actually.”

“Really?”

Killian nodded solemnly. “I guess it would have been a fool’s hope that you would have been willing to meet after last night.”

Emma’s heart clenched painfully.

“Killian, I…” she started but her phone rang just as she did.

She was about to answer it before she remembered that she currently wasn’t herself and neither of them were in the habit of answering the other’s phones. She passed it to Killian, who grabbed it as if it were a snake about to bite him.

“Just… act like me?” She suggested hopefully.

Killian rolled his eyes before answering the call and putting it on speaker phone.

“Emma!” Mary-Margaret’s excited voice filled the room. “How are you this morning?”

“I’m fine, M. You?”

“I’m having a lovely day. Are you and Killian still meeting David and me tonight?”

“That was the plan.” Killian did a rather good job imitating her more succinct pattern of speech, Emma noted. Much better than she was at his.

“Excellent. Would 5:30pm work for the two of you?”

Killian looked at her for guidance. Emma signaled for him to answer, hoping he could come up with some reasonable explanation for his… her… absence.

“Actually, I’m feeling a bit tired today. I was thinking…” He started before being interrupted by their friend.

“Are you sick? Do you need me to bring you anything? I have some chicken noodle soup I made on Saturday.” Mary-Margaret was true to form, immediately offering all the comforts she could provide to a sick friend. 

Killian looked startled and he struggled to interrupt Mary-Margaret. “No, I’m not sick,” he insisted. “I just didn’t sleep well, that is all.”

“Are you sure? It will only take thirty minutes or so for me to warm up some of the soup and bring it over,” Mary-Margaret insisted.

Killian stumbled over his words as he replied, “No, I really am fine, truly. 5:30pm works great. We’ll meet you at Granny’s.”

“Ok, great! See you both then!” After that, the call disconnected but Killian continued to stare at the phone. 

“That didn’t go like I had hoped,” he eventually said.

Emma tried to remember if Killian had ever had the full force of Mary-Margaret’s protective nature turned on him before. She didn’t think so.

“Don’t worry about it. If we can’t find a solution to our… problem before dinner, we can just get them drunk enough that they won’t notice if anything is different about us.”

Killian looked dubious at her suggestion, but he couldn’t offer any other alternative plan. Now with a time limit, they both dove back into their research.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please go check out Mariakov81's amazing art on Tumblr https://mariakov81.tumblr.com/post/190885149343/and-from-here-on-some-fun-begins-here-is-the-part


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